The co-chief operating officer of Sega has called play-to-earn games “boring” amid the firm’s retreat from franchising some of its hottest properties to the blockchain gaming space.
Bloomberg reported on July 6 that Shuji Utsumi, the co-COO of the gaming company behind Sonic The Hedgehog, said Sega would shelve plans to develop blockchain games for now.
Third-party blockchain gaming projects would also not get access to Sega’s biggest franchises, with Utsumi adding:
“The action in play-to-earn games is boring, what’s the point if games are no fun?”
However, some of the less-known Sega titles will still get licensed for runs in nonfungible token (NFT) collections, its lesser franchises are getting blockchain games slated for announcements later this year and Sega is still pumping millions into related projects.
Breaking: Via @bloomberg, SEGA Co-COO Shuji Utsumi has confirmed that SEGA’s biggest IPs, Sonic will not use blockchain, to avoid devaluing them. #SonicNewsThey were non-committal on using Web3 for their fabled “super game.” Source: https://t.co/fgeVTRYHdB
It's up in the air if the “super game” touted by Sega for the last year — set for launch in 2026 — will still involve Web3 tech.
Utsumi believed the tech is useful for such cases as moving in-game items between gaming titles but Sega may hang back until the tech sees wider use.
“We’re looking into whether this technology is really going to take off in this industry, after all,” Utsumi said.
Professional American football star Tom Brady is reportedly switching up the strategy for his NFT-focused startup Autograph — which is now moving away from NFTs.
On July 6 The New York Times reported Autograph’s marketing has quietly removed crypto language, downplays terms such as NFT
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